Department for Work and Pensions

Poverty: Children

The Lord Bishop of Leicester: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byViscount Younger of Leckie on 27 March (HL3520),why it is not possible to undertake a robust assessment of the impact of the two-child limit.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: We do not have the data to fully measure health and well-being behavioural impacts that may have resulted from the two-child limit.

Household Support Fund: Parkinson's Disease

Baroness Gale: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the Household Support Fund meets the needs of people with Parkinson’s disease.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The Household Support Fund (HSF) is a scheme run by Upper Tier Local Authorities in England to provide support to those most in need towards the cost of essentials. Local Authorities have the discretion to design their own local schemes within the parameters of the guidance and grant determination set out for them by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The Household Support Fund is an intentionally flexible scheme, designed to enable Local Authorities to respond to local need. Local Authorities have the ties and knowledge to best determine how this support should be provided to their local communities. We encourage Local Authorities to consider a wide range of households who are potentially in need of support, including families with children, pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers and disabled people. Local Authorities have the flexibility to deliver the scheme through a variety of routes, including offering vouchers to households, directly providing food, or issuing grants to third parties. It is for each local council to decide how, where and when they distribute their funding and to ensure that it is accessible to those who need it.

Social Security Benefits: Parkinson's Disease

Baroness Gale: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide targeted financial support for people with long-term conditions such as Parkinson’s disease during the cost of living crisis.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living, including people with Parkinson’s disease. Over recent years, the government has demonstrated its commitment to supporting the most vulnerable with one of the largest support packages in Europe. The total support over 2022- 2025 to help households and individuals with higher bills amounts to £108 billion – an average of £3,800 per UK household. We provided a Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 in June/July 2023 to people in receipt of certain disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Disability Living Allowance (DLA). This is in addition to the £150 payment paid in September 2022. We estimate that nearly 60 per cent of individuals who received an extra costs disability benefit would have received the means-tested benefit Cost of Living Payments, worth up to £900. Over 85 per cent would have received either or both of the means-tested and the £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment. We also increased extra costs disability benefits by 10.1 per cent from April 2023 and by 6.7% from April 2024 in line with the Consumer Price Index.

Climate Change: Risk Management

Lord Davies of Brixton: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will update statutory guidance on climate risk management, as part of their review of climate risk reporting requirements which was due to take place in the second half of 2023 or otherwise; and in particular whether any updated guidance will take account of the report of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and the University of Exeter Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tailpublished in March.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: My Lords, we are undertaking a post-implementation review of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Climate Change Governance and Reporting) Regulations 2021. We aim to conclude the review this year.  We recognise that recent reports, including “Climate Scorpion-the sting is in the tail” have shown the limitations of the models currently available for scenario analysis. Therefore, we welcome work within the industry to ensure that scenario analysis models are decision useful and will look to acknowledge the issue in the review.  However, we do not believe that the Government should mandate which models should be used by Pension Schemes. It is important that modelling which takes into account of ESG is allowed to develop and evolve as data availability increases.

Treasury

Personal Savings

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government, following the findings of the Financial Conduct Authority survey indicating a decrease in savings and investing among UK adults, what steps they are taking to help individuals and families save and invest.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Government is committed to incentivising greater saving and investment, to help hard working people save for their future goals and build greater financial resilience. The Help to Save scheme was launched in September 2018 and is intended to promote financial resilience among working households on low incomes by supporting them to kickstart a regular, long-term savings habit and build a financial buffer for a rainy day.Individuals can also save up to £20,000 into an Individual Savings Account (ISA) each year, and any savings income received within an ISA is tax free. This, along with the Personal Savings Allowance of up to £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers means that around 85% of people with savings income pay no tax on that income. However, the Government also recognises that people need support to make effective investment decisions. This is why the Government and FCA are working on a joint review of the boundary between financial advice and guidance to ensure people can access appropriate support with their financial decision-making.

Health Insurance: Private Sector

Baroness Merron: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to assess and mitigate the impact of private medical insurance fees on the quality and suitability of care provided to patients with private medical insurance.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Government is determined that all insurers, including private medical insurers, treat consumers fairly and firms are required to do so under the Financial Conduct Authority’s rules. The FCA requires insurers to ensure their products offer fair value, meaning the price a consumer pays for a product or service must be reasonable compared to the overall benefits they can expect to receive. The FCA has been clear that it will be monitoring firms to make sure they comply with this rule and will take action where necessary. All providers of healthcare are regulated by the Care Quality Commission and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall, while the General Medical Council is responsible for regulating doctors in the United Kingdom.

Cost of Living

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the Financial Conduct Authority survey indicating an increase in adults across the UK struggling to pay bills due to the high cost of living, and what steps they are taking to help individuals and families facing financial difficulties.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The FCA’s 2024 Cost of Living survey found a reduction in the number of people finding it hard to manage higher costs of living since January 2023. The government has already provided support to help with the cost of living totalling £96 billion from 2022-23 to 2023-2024 – an average of £3400 per UK household. Further actions taken by the government in 2024-25 include: a rise in the National Living Wage (NLW) by 9.8% - ending low hourly pay for workers on the NLW, raising Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile of market rents, uprating working-age benefits by 6.7%, freezing fuel duty, removing Debt Relief Order fees, and doubling the Budgeting Advance Loan repayment period.

Economic Situation

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to sustain the momentum of the economic recovery following indications that GDP increased in January and February.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: To sustain economic growth momentum, the government is continuing to pursue an ambitious policy agenda to increase growth and productivity across the economy. The OBR expects that policies announced at the previous three fiscal events will increase the size of the economy by 0.7% by 2028-29. In addition to making full expensing permanent, a tax cut to companies of over £10 billion a year, the government has announced measures to boost labour supply, which the OBR predicts will increase the number of hours worked by the equivalent of over 300,000 full-time workers by the end of the forecast period.

Bank of England: Forecasts

Lord Allen of Kensington: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the review of Bank of England forecasting led by Ben Bernanke.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Bank of England has operational independence from the government to carry out its statutory responsibilities for monetary policy and financial stability. The government’s commitment to this independence remains absolute.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Environmental Land Management Schemes

The Earl of Sandwich: To ask His Majesty's Government whyexisting agri-environment schemes such as the Countryside Stewardship scheme are based on the claim deadline of 15 May 2023 while the Rural Payments Agency window runs up until 30 June 2024, resulting in wait times of up to 13 months for farmers and land managers to receive their payments; and whether they have any plans to change this in future.

Lord Douglas-Miller: Within the European Union, policies were set for seven years with limited opportunity to change, however, now that we have left the EU, we are rolling out our new environmental land management schemes and are adopting new approaches, including to our payment frequencies. We have already introduced more frequent payments in our new schemes, to make them work better for farm businesses. For example, SFI offers payments on a quarterly schedule, so that farmers start getting paid in the fourth month of their agreement, and every 3 months after that. Where possible, as we expand the offer, we will offer more frequent payments to more participants.

Fishing Catches: Conservation

Lord Randall of Uxbridge: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies prohibits fuel subsidies for fleets and vessels catching depleted fish stocks in UK waters.

Lord Douglas-Miller: The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies prohibits specific subsidies, including specific fuel subsidies, for fishing or fishing related activities regarding an overfished stock. The UK does not provide specific fuel subsidies to the UK fishing fleet.

Floods: Somerset

Lord Patten: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Somerset Levels' resilience to flooding during the winter of 2023–24.

Lord Douglas-Miller: Catchments like the Brue on the Somerset Levels & Moors have seen record breaking conditions. Hundreds of properties have been flooded across Somerset and the Lead Local Flood Authority (Somerset Council) is planning to publish 11 Section 19 flooding reports.Protecting some communities on the Somerset Levels and Moors from flooding is reliant on careful management of water levels, the storage and pumping of water from the moors, mobilisation of enhanced pumping capacity as well as targeted water injection dredging and the delivery of further flood/drought risk management interventions. Continued operation and maintenance of flood risk structures and equipment is essential to manage the risk. Future investment needs to factor in climatic change and help reach net zero.Led by the Environment Agency, tens of millions are being invested in flood storage reservoirs to ensure they are safe and the Bridgwater tidal barrier will reduce tidal flood risk to 11,300 homes and 1,500 businesses. The detailed design is complete and enabling works are underway.The natural geography of the Somerset Levels and Moors, in combination with climate change, indicates communities and businesses must remain prepared for flooding. The Somerset Rivers Authority Partnership, which has recently consulted on and published a new 10-year strategy, is helping Flood risk management authorities to work together so the Levels and Moors become a more climate resilient place.The Government’s drive to tackle climate change, alongside exiting the EU is delivering an evolution of environmental, flood risk and farming policy. This change is presenting tangible economic and environmental opportunities for the communities living and working on the Levels and Moors in this pump drained landscape.

Question

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of flooding on farmland on the likelihood of food shortages and loss of farm income.

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to help farmers deal with unrecoverable losses from flooding on farmland, and the loss of crops and livestock.

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the threat to food security and farm productivity of the ongoing flooding on farmland across large parts of the country, and steps they intend to take to secure a steady supply of affordable vegetables and meat from UK sources.

Lord Douglas-Miller: The UK agricultural sector is highly resilient and adaptable and operates in an open market with the value of commodities established by those in the supply chain. The recent prolonged period of wet weather has impacted the UK arable and livestock sectors in several ways. These include late/limited planting opportunities for arable and horticulture crops; delayed turn out of grazing animals and the associated risk of diseases in keeping animals housed indoors for longer periods than usual, concerns about the potential scarcity and cost of straw; a build-up of stored slurry and reduced application opportunities; and wider concerns about the impact on mental health of farmers. Yields and productivity will also vary depending on individual farmer decisions, region, area and in the case of the arable sector, crop and soil type amongst other factors. A number of individual farms have clearly been affected by the wet weather. While the current market assessment is that there may be implications over the coming months for certain commodities, particularly in the expected yield and quality of several arable crops this summer/autumn, it is still too early to predict the full impact on domestic food production, especially if the weather improves in the coming weeks. We continue to monitor the on-going situation, working closely with the industry and through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group (UKAMMG). The UK AMMG held an interim meeting on 16 April to specifically consider the impacts of the weather on each commodity sector. The Farming Recovery Fund has been opened to provide farmers support to recover from uninsurable damage with grants of between £500 and £25,000 to return their land to the condition it was before exceptional flooding of Storm Henk. The fund was initially opened in nine English local authority areas where the Flood Recovery Framework has been activated to help farms which have experienced the highest levels of flooding. Eligibility for the Fund is actively under review. This forms part of a package of support available to farmers through the Flood Recovery Framework, including a grant of up to £2,500 through the Business Recovery Grant Scheme. The UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) sets out an analysis of statistical data relating to food security, fulfilling the duty in the Agriculture Act 2020 to present a report on food security to Parliament at least once every three years. It examines trends relevant to food security to present the best available understanding. The report was last published in December 2021 and will next be published by December 2024. Starting this year, we are strengthening our food security monitoring by producing the Annual Food Security Index. This will complement the UKFSR with a shorter and more regular report. The first version will be published at the Farm to Fork Summit in the Spring. The next UKFSR, which will be published later this year, will include analysis on the risk of flooding to food security as part of its assessment of longer-term climate-related trends.

Fishing Vessels: Electric Vehicles

Baroness Hayman of Ullock: To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish their response to the consultation on remote electronic fishing vessels, which ran from17 July to 9 October 2023.

Lord Douglas-Miller: We will be publishing responses soon and they will be available on GOV.UK.

Rivers: Environment Protection

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to introduce statutory protection for chalk streams.

Lord Douglas-Miller: We have already brought forward changes to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act to help better protect chalk streams by adding chalk streams into the definitions of ‘environmental protection’ and ‘natural environment’ in the Act. This means that chalk streams must be considered when undertaking environmental assessments in the future, thereby recognising the value of these distinctive habitats. Also, chalk streams are now defined as priority sites in the government’s Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan with a target to improve 75% of storm overflows discharging to high priority sites by 2035. We are working very closely with colleagues from the Environment Agency, the Chair of the Chalk Stream Restoration Group and the Wildlife Trust on the Chalk Stream Recovery Pack. The Recovery Pack will make a number of recommendations for government to tackle to restore and protect our chalk streams.

Hedges and Ditches: Environment Protection

Baroness Quin: To ask His Majesty's Government, following their consultation last year, whether they plan to introducelegislation to protect hedgerows this spring and during the bird breeding season.

Lord Douglas-Miller: Following overwhelming support to our consultation last summer, which received almost 9,000 responses, on 16 April the Government laid before Parliament new regulations that will place management practices for hedgerows on agricultural land into legislation. These practices include a cutting ban between 1 March and 31 August to protect nesting birds during this period, and a 2m buffer strip around a hedge where green cover must be established and maintained to protect the health of the hedge and the wildlife that use it.

Northern Ireland Office

Belfast Agreement

Baroness Hoey: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the informal implementation group for the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement set up with Sinn Féin is still in existence; and when it last met.

Lord Caine: The group to which the Noble Baroness refers no longer exists.Relevant documents relating to this issue are freely accessible in the National Archives at Kew, to which the Noble Baroness might wish to refer. The Government takes seriously its obligations under the Public Records Act 1958.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Boiler Upgrade Scheme: Eligibility

Lord Stunell: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish the evidence base used to underpin the decision, announced by Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in March in its Boiler Upgrade Scheme Consultation Response, that future grant applicants' compliance with Energy Performance Certificate recommendations will be optional.

Lord Callanan: The Government response to the consultation on amendments to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme sets out the responses received by industry stakeholders, including evidence to support the removal of the legal requirement to have no outstanding recommendations for cavity and loft insulation which was determined a barrier to access the scheme.

Nuclear Power Stations

Lord Ravensdale: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the sites currently listed in the current nuclear National Policy Statement EN-6, will be included in the forthcoming EN-7.

Lord Callanan: The Department recently consulted on a proposed policy for siting new nuclear power stations after 2025, which set out a criteria based approach. While EN-7 will be the primary basis for development consent decisions on nuclear power stations after 2025, we recognise that the sites listed in EN-6 are likely to retain many inherent advantages. EN-6 will not be withdrawn, and we expect it to remain an important and relevant consideration in any planning decision for projects at any of the sites listed in EN-6.

Department of Health and Social Care

Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund

The Lord Bishop of Southwark: To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in allocating the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund 2023 to 2024 for adult social care; and what are their plans for allocation in the financial year 2024–25.

Lord Markham: The Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF) gives an overall profile of almost £2 billion over two years. Local authorities can choose to use the funding to increase fee rates paid to adult social care providers, increase adult social care workforce capacity and retention, and reduce adult social care waiting times.In 2023/34, a total of £927 million was made available to local authorities via MSIF, with a further £1.05 billion being made available in 2024/25. The funding has been distributed using the adult social care relative needs formula. Full local authority allocations for 2024/25 are available in the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund Grant Determination 2024 to 2025 on GOV.UK in an online-only format.